I was reminded of this at fitness last week, when a fabulous Swedish-Aussie friend asked, "Did you like the novel, The Handmaid's Tale?" (By the way, the novel is quite different from the HBO series.)

Three of us were lined up in a row on the mats. On one side, doing mountain climbers or push-ups or some other godforsaken thing, I yelled out YES, I LOVED IT and my sweet friend on the other side said OH, I HATED IT. We had a good laugh. Because we're both right.

The trick with everything is finding your tribe (especially as an author!). And maybe the even bigger trick is realising that -- with all the people who aren't your tribe -- there's no point in getting upset. It is what it is.

You love who you love.

OH - about the three women in the animal heads? That's my tribe. We're wearing these to a writing conference cocktail party with the theme 'Love Gone Wild.'

The full manuscript of Siren Song is under request by one amazing Australian publishing house. While I wait for their decision (and then carry on pitching to other publishers), I'm doing my own market research.

I've asked some savvy teenage beta readers and five gorgeous mums from Canada, Britain and Australia to read my draft. (Did you know that women often read Young Adult novels?)

Why? It's about female power, guilt and jealousy. It's about feeling like you're both strong and wrong. It's about making peace with the pieces of your life. (Oh, and it's also about poetry and skiing and Canada and crystal galleries and perfection and families. And why we hurt the people we love.)

So far, one teenager read into the night to finish it. Her verdict? LOVE.

I'm excited to see what the rest of my beta-readers think!! I've created a reader survey to gather reviews and get some feedback.

Yay for feedback. And yikes!

When you offer your work to world, you have to expect that some people will like it and some won't. For me, fear of rejection lives in my head with jealousy and scarcity. Three UGLY sisters. It's way too easy to spiral down and let them have a food fight in my brain.

That's why I love these words from the daughter of Diana Ross (of the Supremes):

Hello from me, on the train, listening to a podcast! I'm celebrating a year into blogging (happy anniversary to us!), two years into my writing journey, and fifty years into living in my own imperfect skin.

Like you, I'm a work in progress.

Worries, wrinkles, opportunities, joy.

But every day, social media tells us we're supposed to be perfect: fit and self-disciplined and techno-savvy and politically active and fashionable and Instagram-perfect...with kids who achieve and a whole stack of personal victories that we trot out at parties.

Oh, and we're not supposed to age.

Yes, I do this. (It's easy)

Yes, I am this. (It's easy)

And the truth -- that sometimes we're tired, that sometimes we fail (loudly, publicly), that sometimes we disappoint ourselves or are gutted by the people we love -- that truth hides with all the photos we delete. Too old. Too fat! Too boring to share. That won't get any Likes.

Delete. (What would the online world look like if we shared our Deletes?)

I've decided that chasing perfection -- in real life or online -- is exhausting. So here's a thought:

Can we make peace with ourselves, right now, as we are? I'm a work-in-progress. So are you.

A young friend asked me what I've learned from being 50, and I told her this: I've learned we don't have to do it all...perfectly. We just have to do what we love.

Catherine xo

ps. Happy blog anniversary, everyone! Honestly, truly, thank you for reading. I hope I've made your life a little more lovely this year. That's been my intent.

Cake, pie and coffee, anyone? It's always a good time when writers get together for lunch.

If you've ever wondered what writers talk about, it's this:

book ideas, characters, juicy plots

how much we loooooove writing

the endless possibilities in the fictional worlds we dream up

the next book deal :)

What I've Been Up To

Writing a lot! Getting encouraging news from publishers! Washing tons of rowing zooties (yay, Aussie rowers!!) in the lead up to Head of the River, packing lunches, vaguely hearing my husband and son get up at 4:30am to drive to the boat shed before school. Driving to the train station to pick up my tribe. Fun lunches with the girls. Early morning training with crazy fitness friends. More writing. Some copywriting! A little of everything.

I seriously love my life. And I'll never apologise for that, or dim it down. Are you with me??

There's a bit of a fiction going on that Life (& writing) is all very hard. We're too busy. We're frantic. But that's not my story. My story is this: everything can be appreciated. All of it. Remember the shot of my perfect pumpkin pie and my filthy bench top? (Um, I'm just realising my life seems to have quite a lot of pie in it...ha!)

That's my life. That's yours. Perfect + Not Perfect.

There's good in everything if you look for it. My husband, who spent years as a handsome young navigator in the Canadian Navy and then the Royal Australian Navy, always says this:

I know, I know...so bad! But I've had a lot on this week, and chocolate is my Boyfriend. Ha!

Everything happens end of November. Christmas prep, finishing off projects before summer holidays, and if you live in Australia, end of school year.

You know what this means: teacher gifts, concerts, gingerbread houses, finding yet another dress to wear. Plus I was decorating the school hall with a fabulous friend for the Year 6 Graduation Dinner (high school starts in Year 7 in Australia).

Just generally overcommitting. You??

On top of this craziness, I signed up for a Literary Speed Dating event. That's why I had a chocolate lunch. Someone opened a Max Brenner right across from the conference centre, so what was I supposed to do?

You might be curious about Literary Speed Dating. It was my first time. You rush into a conference room and get in the publisher's queue. You have 3 minutes to pitch. A bell rings and you get a YES (send it to me) or a HMMMM...THANKS FOR COMING! LOVE YOUR DRESS!

I was a little nervous, but it went well.

Amidst all the hustle, I got a text from one of the Heart Girls, my forever writing friends. She's very funny and her books are hilarious. I was rabbiting on about parties in December and how we should all just relax and breathe...and she sent this:

D.A. (Dorothy) Hawes is an incredible tour de force. She's an author, a feature writer, a high school English teacher, an accomplished pianist, a foodie, and a lover of all things entertaining. She's recently published Ogopogo Odyssey, a picture book featuring the legendary Canadian monster of Okanagan Lake in beautiful British Columbia.

Dorothy shares her love of entertaining in her feature column, 'Entertain with Dorothy,' published in At Home Victoria magazine and on her fabulous blog, Any Excuse For A Party. You'll also love her Instagram about entertaining, food, and life on Vancouver Island. (any_excuse_for_a_party).

Dorothy and I met when we taught high school together in Victoria, B.C. Now I'm thrilled to introduce you to her first children's book, published in 2016 by Promontory Press. Dorothy and Promontory have generously donated two books for my blog readers: one for a Canadian and one for an Aussie! Winners are announced at the end of this post...

Dorothy, tell us how you got to where you are today as a writer.

I’ve always loved stories. I grew up in a family of 12 kids, and while my parents didn’t have a lot of money, we did have a library card! We spent lots of time at the library and I still vividly remember perusing the shelves for the most engaging books. My Dad was great about reading to us, so my love of books began at an early age. In elementary school, I always enjoyed writing and loved to create stories of my own. My love of reading and literature continued to grow as I went on to high school and university, prompting me to do a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Masters degree with a double-major in English and Germanic studies.

What inspired the story behind Ogopogo Odyssey?

I grew up in Vernon, a small city in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. We swam in Okanagan Lake during the summer months and I heard lots of stories of the mythical Ogopogo. This famous Canadian icon was featured on tourist brochures, postcards, t-shirts, mugs, and many of the parks throughout the Okanagan had large caricatures of the Ogopogo. Before dropping us off at the beach to swim, my parents would often jokingly tell us to “watch out for the Ogopogo!” Later in my life, once I had children of my own, I decided to write a story based on my own childhood recollections of the Ogopogo. Given the many sightings of this mysterious creature over the years, I tried to imagine the excitement of a young boy who believes he has an encounter with the Ogopogo. I also felt that including the story of Chief Timbasket and his encounter with N’ha-a’itk was an engaging way to show respect for the First Nations heritage in our province.

How long did you work on Ogopogo Odyssey, from inspiration to finished product?

This is quite funny as my journey with this story was a VERY long one! I wrote this story in a children’s writing class with author Julie Lawson when my son, Colin, was about 8 or 9 years old. Now he’s 21! After writing the story, I did initially try to find a publisher, but it was a long and arduous process that didn’t seem to get me anywhere, so the manuscript was shelved for many years. That’s why finally bringing this book to fruition has been particularly rewarding. It shows that patience and perseverance really do pay off!

You’ve used a fantastic hybrid publisher in Canada, Promontory Press. What were the main benefits of approaching a hybrid publisher rather than pursuing a traditional publisher for your book?

A good friend of mine had her book published through Promontory Press and she paved the way for me to meet up with Ben Coles, publisher and CEO of this firm. I didn’t even know at the time exactly what the difference was between traditional publishing and hybrid, but soon discovered that hybrid publishing allowed me much more creative freedom and involvement in the process than a traditional publishing house would. While this also meant that I had to cost share in the production of the book, in the end, I also take away a larger cut from the royalties. I believe this system is fairer to both the author and the illustrator in the long run.

Traditional publishers pair authors and illustrators and don’t allow writers to source their own illustrations (unless they illustrate their own books). Hybrid publishers take a different approach. Can you tell us about that?

The wonderful thing about Ben and Promontory Press was their overwhelming support of my decision to have Maggie Parr as the illustrator for the book. In fact, I think Ben might have been more excited about Maggie’s role in the book than mine! After all, she was a well-known Disney artist who could bring a lot of attention and credibility to the book. Sadly, the traditional publishing houses are far less open to authors finding their own illustrators and usually prescribe the specific illustrator for the book without the author’s input. I’ve spoken to many authors who never even saw the illustrations for their book until it was in print. I think that’s kind of sad.

How did you meet your illustrator?

Maggie Parr and I met in a rather serendipitous manner at the San Francisco Writers' Conference many years ago. We happened to be standing in line for an event and began to chat, and at the end of our conversation we exchanged business cards. Her business card featured a caricature of an adorable looking dragon and the first thought that entered my head was, This is exactly the sort of art work I picture for Ogopogo! When I returned to Canada, we began to correspond by email and I finally had the nerve to ask this very talented Disney artist to illustrate my book. Lucky for me, Maggie agreed and so began a long-term collaboration.

You’re now a published children’s author, but you’re also a blogger and a feature-writer…as well as an English teacher. Can you tell us about your writing life?

I’m rather eclectic in my writing. While I love writing children’s books, I have also been working on a young adult novel as well. In addition to that, I’m hoping to write a book on entertaining. Currently, I have a column called “Entertain with Dorothy” for At Home Magazine, a local magazine in Victoria, B.C. I have a real passion for home entertaining and my philosophy is that everyone is capable of bringing friends and family together and feeling comfortable in doing so.

My dream is to publish a book that will act as both an inspiration and guideline to help people discover their own potential to entertain, whether on a very small scale or a big one. That’s the mantra behind my blog and my Instagram “Any Excuse for a Party.”

What’s next for you on your writing journey?

Maggie and I have discussed the possibility of creating another children’s book together, so I’m very excited about that. We’ve both been so busy since the publication of Ogopogo Odyssey that we really haven’t gotten down to discussing exactly what that will look like. I am also keen to pursue my dream of publishing a book on entertaining, which is why I am working hard to develop a following on both my blog and Instagram. It’s so important to have a presence in social media, particularly if you want to publish in the genre of cookbooks, home décor and/or entertaining.

What doubts or resistance are you currently facing as a writer?

It’s always a challenge to really believe in yourself and trust that you have a voice that is different from what’s already out there. It’s also tricky in this digital age to convince people, especially young people, that a book is a worthwhile investment. There are so many bookstores suffering financial losses these days and many publishers are reluctant to take on new writers. I truly believe that nothing beats a hard copy of any book, particularly for children, but we also have to accept the fact that the world is changing. Even Ogopogo Odyssey is available in Kindle edition, something that I still find odd, given that I don’t even own a Kindle!

What would you say to an emerging writer who is just starting out on this journey?

Don’t give up! It took me so long to finally see Ogopogo Odyssey come to life, but it was worth the wait. You have to develop thick skin and not be deterred by the inevitable rejection letters. Once you find the right publisher and the right editor, anything can happen!

For delicious party inspiration, check out Dorothy’s entertaining column online and her blog, Any Excuse For A Party. I'm sure we'll be hearing from Dorothy soon...maybe with a glossy book on celebrations!

Take it from a friend who loves her, Dorothy and her parties are THE BEST.

We've been on a beach holiday for a couple of days. Australia, you are a beauty queen.

Sparkly ocean:

Scruffy, lovable kangaroos:

Deserted white sand beaches at twilight.

I see it so clearly because I'm an immigrant. Australia has opened her arms to me.

Want to hear a surprising story?

My father wanted to migrate here from the Canadian prairies in the 1940s. He was a struggling farmer; he thought he'd try his luck on a sheep station in Australia. But my mother (also named Catherine Greer) was too in love with Canada. She didn't want to leave her family or her country, everything she knew as home.

So his was a dream, stilled.

Fast forward 50+ years. I met my dashing naval officer, who asked me to marry him. Then he said, 'But...I'm moving to Australia.' Back then, he was a navigator of warships, headhunted by the Royal Australian Navy.

I said yes. To everything: marriage, Australia, adventure, change.

Taking flight is hard. Wobbly, but good.

I like to think, when I look at my Australian family and remember my father's dream, that it was meant to be. That I was meant to be Australian.

This week I got a call. The kind that makes you run around a shopping mall and scream while calling your girlfriends. (Or maybe that's just me??) A picture book I wrote, Jacaranda Snow, about child poverty in Australia, was selected from a slush pile by a fabulous publisher.

(This is how it works: thousands of manuscripts languish in the slush pile at every publishing house. To get chosen is a MIRACLE. But that's only the first cut. The editor calls you and says he/she loves it BUT they have to fight for their choice in a monthly editorial meeting. It's like winning a scholarship to a major university. Or finding the person of your dreams using a dating website. Hard, hard, hard. But possible.)

I hope she wins.

I hope Jacaranda Snow is published because I wrote it for Australia: for all her invisible kids, the four kids out of 28 in every classroom who live with poverty every day.

I went shopping today. Have you ever noticed that it can be fun and completely overwhelming, all at the same time?

So much choice. Sometimes too much choice.

Then I listened to a podcast on the way home and heard this:

That word GIFT just stopped me cold. Because it's true. I burn through so much energy not making a decision.

I dither.

I think.

I wait.

Not over nail polish, obviously, but over the big stuff.

Have you ever been there? Unable to decide because something is so important to you and you really (really) want to get it right?

For the past month, I've been reviewing the pitching strategy for my novel -- overseas agents, Australian agents, straight to Australian publishers, Canadian publishers, American publishers -- and driving myself crazy while I try to make the best choice. (Want to come over for a coffee?? No?? I can see why.)

But now I know what I need to do: I need to give myself the GIFT of making a decision.

Exciting - here's my first giveaway for you! Penguin Random House Australia and bestselling author Belinda Murrell are giving away five signed copies of Belinda's latest novel, The Lost Sapphire, to my readers. Everyone's name went into the draw to win - no need to do anything! Five winners are announced at the end of this blog post, so read on!

I met with Belinda for lunch at the Fish Cafe near Manly. Belinda was charming and our lunch was divine (I recommend the fish pie!). Can't wait to share Belinda's journey from corporate writer to bestselling author. I know you'll enjoy it.

Belinda, tell us about your writing journey.

I started to write when I was eight years old. I wrote all through school, went to University and studied Creative Writing, Journalism and Marketing Communications. Later, when I had kids, they were keen readers, so I wrote little stories for them for fun. Nick was a great reader and he tore through all the primary books and started picking up books for teenagers. I thought, ‘Mmmm, I really don’t want him reading this yet,’ so I started to write a book for him.

Instead of watching telly in the evening, I would put the kids to bed and write. It took me about two years to write my first novel. It was about 65,000 words.

Around eleven years ago I went to the Sydney Writers’ Festival with my sister, who is a writer. I met an editor from Random House and she asked me if I had written anything. I told her I had finished a novel and within about two weeks she had read it and told me she loved it. That was the first book in the Sun Sword series.

What's your process when you write a new novel?

I like to revise as I go. I don’t know if that’s a procrastination technique, but I think it helps me get back into the world of the novel. The following day, I reread what I’ve written and polish a bit, and then I keep going. You have to realise no matter how much revision you do, the book will never be perfect. You have to reach a point where you let it go.

How did the Lulu Bell series for younger readers unfold?

For the first few years I wrote a big novel a year. My youngest was at preschool, so I only did school visits to promote my books if I could get there and back between 10am and 2pm! That was still pretty busy, but as the kids got older I had more time. My husband had a career change a few years ago, and I was faced with a decision – do I go back into corporate writing or journalism or do I carry on as a fiction writer? It was a tough decision. I talked to my family – my husband, sister, parents and my agent – and my agent suggested that I write a Junior Fiction series. She thought I’d write a beautiful series because I’m quite a warm person. So my husband and I struck a deal; he took care of the kids and the house and I wrote and travelled. So in addition to writing one big book a year, I was writing smaller Lulu Bell books as well.

Do you have a new series in the works?

Yes, I’m trying to develop a whole new series for 8 – 10 year olds. My readers have raced through the Lulu Bell books and are too young for the Sun Sword trilogy or my time slip novels, so they really need something. It’s a big jump to go from Lulu Bell to a time slip, so I’d like to write a stepping stone between the two. Lulu Bell is very much family focused, but the next series would be much more focused on peer groups and friendships, and problems that kids face in school and in their lives.

It takes up so much brain space to create a whole new series. New characters, new everything, really. I’ve come up with good ideas that are pitched slightly too old, so I’m refining what I think will work for 8 to 10 year olds.

How did your time slip series come about?

My daughter is a voracious reader. She reads so much and so widely and she was reading a lot of books that her brothers were reading. There was always a main character that was a male, and there was a wing girl…like Hermione Granger. So that frustrated me. She didn’t have really strong female heroes that she could read about. And she was drawn to old books with strong female characters. Modern books didn’t have that, for the most part, so I set myself a challenge of writing a modern-day book that she would love.

The time slip books are about a modern day girl who finds a piece of jewellery and this provides a link to the past. So with this first book, the modern day girl discovers a story from the past. In The Locket of Dreams she dreamed and could go back to the past, and then she wanted to spend more and more time there.

Was Locket of Dreams inspired by real life?

Yes. The story behind Locket of Dreams is that my grandmother was an English teacher, and she’d tell us how her grandmother had come to Australia back in the 1850s from Scotland. She told us so many stories. There was this little gold locket that had belonged to my great grandmother in Scotland that was passed down to my mother.

This little child’s locket that had come out with her on the journey to Australia. She was sent out to Australia as an orphan, so it was this whole intriguing thing – that they had come from a very wealthy family in Scotland but when the parents died they were sent out as orphans to be brought up by another family out here.

I decided early on it would be amazing to have a series where a modern day child discovers something about the past and in the process discovers something about themselves and the courage they didn’t know they had. The main character has to dig deeply within herself to find her courage and her place in the world. I’ve just loved writing those books and having this absolutely passionate readership from girls.

I think my new novel, The Lost Sapphire, will be the last time slip book. I’m in a bit of limbo. I’ve got two big series that are winding up now, so I’m saying farewell to those books that I loved and now I’m moving to something new and fresh. It’s exciting but also a little bit daunting as well.

Where did the idea for The Lost Sapphire originate?

I was in Melbourne touring with The Ivory Rose. The publishers had dressed me up in period costume and I was in this gorgeous abandoned mansion. Then I went somewhere else and there was another abandoned, and people kept showing them to me. So I decided to write a story set in Melbourne, inspired by The Secret Garden. It’s a book that’s about regenerating and exploring the past. The 1920s was a fascinating time where the world shifted from extremely wealthy families living in huge mansions. All the streams of these ideas came together and became The Lost Sapphire. The first print run has sold out already, and I’m pleased my readers are loving it!

Would you ever consider writing a book for adults?

I’m not really sure. Yes, I might, but it would probably be something I would do quite far down the track, possibly when my own kids are all grown up and not inspiring my children’s books. I almost feel a tiny bit disloyal saying I might write for adults because I feel that children’s books are just so important. They give you the most incredible reward in terms of passionate feedback from kids. Kids are so devoted to the authors they love, and I don’t think adults are devoted to adult authors.But I’ll never say never!

Are you facing any doubts or challenges in your writing life?

I suppose it’s just juggling the opposing demands of family and writing – not just my immediate family but my extended family. It’s hard to prioritise the time and choose what to put my effort into. I just can’t say yes to everything.

One of the things that’s really hard about being a writer is – that by the very nature of being creative – you tend to be sensitive as well. So I think all artists, whether they are musicians or writers, tend to be at the very sensitive end of the spectrum. You’re on a roller coaster. Emotional – very up and down as well. As a writer, the thing you have to battle is self-doubt. My sister and I have a joke…we talk about the goblin that sits on our shoulder and whispers in our mind, ‘It’s not good enough’ and ‘You’re not good enough.’ It’s awful. I think all writers have it!

What about your personal values as a writer? How do your values translate to your books?

I think it’s important to have books about Australian kids, Australian landscapes, Australian perspectives and distinctly Australian problems! I’m also passionate about having strong female characters in my books. So I write by my values. I love to have a bedrock of serious issues underpinning my books, whether it’s history, diversity, bullying or different cultures.

Being an emerging writer is a hard thing to do. You have to throw pebbles in the pond. You don’t know where those ripples will go. No matter what you do, something amazing often comes out of very little things, and you don’t know which little action will take you forward. It’s an amazing, rewarding journey!

Five lucky winners will enjoy Belinda's new book - thank you, Penguin Random House Australia.

If you'd like to buy Belinda's books, they're available online at Amazon, Book Depository and in Australian bookshops. Canadian bookstores should also have some of Belinda's books in stock. The Lulu Bell series is ideal for early readers, The Sun Sword trilogy is perfect for adventurous kids and the time slip novels are written for Young Adults, but any age will enjoy them. The Lost Sapphire will be released in North America later in 2016.

A story: when I took my first (& only) novel writing class last year, we had to submit a chapter for workshopping.

What happens, you ask?

Everyone comments on your work, but there are ground rules to keep it constructive. You say, ‘I enjoyed X’ and ‘I have a question about Y.’

Fine. I was nervous, but confident. I reminded myself of my degrees (two), my career as an English teacher (a decade) and my copywriting business (fifteen years of writing for hours every day).

But small detail: I didn’t know how to write a novel.

So anyway, my turn came.

And a guy with a novel that was pretty bad – as in, he submitted 30 single-spaced pages of awful science fiction about a planet you actually hoped would implode, killing everyone DEAD – this guy stood up, waved my pages and (practically) yelled:

‘I JUST DON’T GET IT. I DON’T GET ANY OF IT. I DON’T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS.’

He didn’t play by the rules.

I was so shocked that I laughed.

Out of nervousness.

And mortification.

It took me a few days to get over what he said, even though I knew he was wrong. Have you ever been there??

Our hearts keep getting involved.

It’s hard to let our heads take over, sew a few clumsy stitches into that red pumping thing in our chests and keep on working.

But I did. And guess what? The publisher to whom I pitched the first three chapters of my novel loved it, shared it around his office, and invited me to submit the finished book. An intelligent manuscript assessor, a fine writer herself, said she ‘loved, loved, loved it.’ And I hope to sign a publishing deal this year.

Fingers crossed.

We’ll see.

But I know one thing for sure: my heart’s a lot tougher than it was before I started.

Fish teem under the surface. Ducks float, their unseen feet frantically paddling. The water is alive with snails and frogs and mozzies, plants, weeds and tadpoles…algae, slime and microscopic life too miniscule to see.

This pond is too full, you think. Crammed! Claustrophobic!

And you’re right. Every pond is full.

There are thousands of painters. But there’s only one you, painting.

There are thousands of songwriters. But there’s only one you, composing.

There are thousands of authors. But there’s only one you, writing.

Or one me.

I learned this lesson when I finished my first novel, Sugar. For $19.95, I printed the draft at Officeworks, sat on our patio in the sunshine and read it. And with every page I realised: this came from me. It's mine.

Only I could have arranged these words in this order, described love in this way, placed this quotation from Jane Eyrebeside that one from The Count of Monte Cristo, put this sonata in the hands of that teenage boy who is a cellist, made this girl run.

Only I could have built this book.

Not the thousands of writers. Only me.

That’s why there’s room for all of us to keep creating. Because yes, in every pursuit, there are thousands…millions even. But only one you. And only one me.

I spent about four decades doing that. I wasn’t good enough at writing, and so I waited to write.

Instead, I imagined stories. Every minute of the day. When I was in one place, I was imagining someplace else. I strode across the grounds of an ancestral home, not the gravel schoolyard. I rode a white mare, not an orange banana bike. I built a kingdom in the empty pastures of my prairie home, filled with dragons and witches and princes and…me.

And I grew up, exactly like Thoreau warns…with quiet desperation. With the song still in me.

As an adult, I judged everyone I met, stored their idiosyncrasies, turned people into characters (Evil Queen! Loyal Friend! Cheating Prince!) rather than letting them be human or paradoxical or flawed.

My boyfriends called me critical.

Finally, in my forties, a lightning bolt struck. The imagining and the evaluating meant I was a writer; I just hadn’t started the Writing Down part.

And so I did that, every day for four months. I wrote stuff down.

At the end of four months I had a draft of a novel. Not too long, just 80,000 words, but a whole complete novel. With a start and an end and characters and plot and tension.

A world on paper. A miracle.

I barely knew what I was doing, even though I’d read thousands of books. And had a graduate degree in Literature. And taught English classes for a decade. And had my own copywriting business for fifteen years.

Writing a novel when you’ve read one is like sewing a wedding dress just because you’ve worn one: it comes out wonky.

But out it comes. And then the delicious part starts: you get to revise it. Fix it! Renovate! Do an extreme makeover. Revision -- for me -- is heaven on earth.

Margaret Atwood is a writer I fell in love with when I was 14. She says this: “If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”

If I were in the von Trapp family, I would be the last one to pop out and say 'Cuckoo.' I was the little girl on the stairs pretending to be asleep, while her older and more capable siblings did the song and dance routine.

I was last, but not least.

Because I had a secret.

There was a wild cowgirl inside me who, one day, would jump up and yell. Dance. Sing. Write.

So here I am. I've written a novel that I believe in. And because of my book and being a new author, I'm getting used to the idea of tending my own little corner of the Internet garden.

It feels very strange out here, online: like being in outer space, and I don't know where the Ladies' Room is.

Maybe that's because I don't Facebook or Tweet or Pinterest or Instagram; I've always been busy enough with living in real life. Figuring out how to get the dog walked plus fit in my run, what to do with chicken (again) for dinner, how early I have to leave to pick up teenage rowers from the boat shed, when to Facetime my mum, writing, editing, coffee-ing, being a friend, being a wife, getting into the city and on and on...

But I'm happy that I've arrived online. Planted seeds. Dug around a bit. Watered the soil.

Some beautiful lady took #lovelierepeat to France. Thank you @budafied 💗 for your love and light — and wonderful review — from the most beautiful city in the world. Enjoy Paris. 💗 Happy reading. .
Repost @budafied 💗

Going grey - have you ever wondered what you might look like? 🌸I look better grey than ‘blonde.’ It’s 100% a personal choice... but I’m so glad I went grey at 49. For me, it was all upside. My hair feels & looks better, and I’ve saved SO much money and time in the salon. Yes, I look a little older than my friends and sisters who aren’t grey, but I’m OK with that. I like being grey. It feels...like PEACE. It feels pretty. 🌸Enjoy your day!